NUCLEAR: A confidential internal analysis in 2011 outlined how Westinghouse didn’t have the staff or experience to manage the construction of nuclear reactors and predicted it could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in its quest to do so. (Post and Courier)

ALSO:
• A new lawsuit alleges civil federal fraud against SCANA and its three top executives, saying they led a “deliberate misinformation campaign” to boost stock prices for the now-failed Summer nuclear project in South Carolina. (The State)
• South Carolina regulators said Thursday they need to review via regulatory court the possibility of forcing a utility to stop billing customers for the abandoned Summer nuclear project. (Associated Press)
• Two private equity firms are reportedly planning to bid to acquire Westinghouse. (Reuters)

OVERSIGHT:• A new book by a retired Virginia professor says state lawmakers and regulators need more resources to counter the influence of large energy companies. (Southeast Energy News)
• President Trump’s nominee to the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority, which is the nation’s largest public utility, is still being paid by a coal company that sells to the utility. (Think Progress)

PIPELINES: Developers of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline want to start clearing trees in November from construction rights-of-way in order to comply with federal conservation guidelines for bat species. (Roanoke Times)

OIL & NATURAL GAS: A video explains that Louisiana’s coast is shrinking quickly due in part to a long history of oil and gas exploration and production in the state’s wetlands. (Times-Picayune)

HYDROELECTRIC STORAGE: Dominion Energy says its proposed pumped hydroelectric storage power station in Virginia would bring hundreds of millions of dollars in economic benefits and thousands of jobs. (Bristol Herald Courier)

SOLAR: Tampa Electric says it plans to add 6 million solar panels throughout west central Florida over the next four years, producing enough electricity to power more than 100,000 homes. (Tampa Bay Business Journal)

RENEWABLE ENERGY: Hurricane Irma seems to be prompting more Floridians to consider turning to renewable energy, installing large-scale battery backups at home, and going “off the grid” to power their homes. (WGCU)

CLIMATE:• A discussion on climate change and the effects on North Carolina brought several hundred people to a forum on Thursday, which featured a panel of scientists. (News & Observer)
• A majority of Americans polled say that global climate change contributed to the severity of recent hurricanes in Florida and Texas. (Washington Post)

COMMENTARY:
• A columnist says it’s no surprise that U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Republican from Georgia, who is informally in charge of the survival of the country’s nuclear energy, supports continuing the Vogtle nuclear project. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• A former Democratic U.S. congressman from Florida says “there can be no more burying our heads in the sand by being afraid to even mention the words ‘climate change’ aloud.” (Miami Herald)